THE SEARCH LEDGER · RALEIGH-DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA · FOOD & DINING
Every month Raleigh-Durham types 2,232,480 food & dining searches into Google. This is the public record of what those searches are, what they cost, and who currently answers them.
BY SEO BANDWAGON · UPDATED WEEKLY · COLLECTED SEP 8, 2026 · HOW THIS PAGE IS MADE
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Relative search interest by month, indexed 0–100. The pink outline marks the peak. Interest runs highest in AUG and lowest in JAN.
SRC: Google Trends relative interest for the Food & Dining category in Raleigh-Durham — a 0–100 index, not a search count. One curve per category is the granularity available; it is not split per keyword.
The 20 highest-volume of 516 tracked keywords, priced at what advertisers actually bid. The most expensive click here is “oakwood pizza raleigh” at $3.44.
| # | KEYWORD | VOL/MO | CPC | DIFFICULTY | INTENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | restaurants near me | 1,220,000 | $0.53 | 7 | transactional |
| 2 | breakfast near me | 135,000 | $0.80 | 23 | transactional |
| 3 | coffee shops near me | 110,000 | $0.50 | 0 | transactional |
| 4 | pizza near me | 110,000 | $1.30 | 12 | transactional |
| 5 | bars near me | 60,500 | $0.41 | 0 | transactional |
| 6 | angus barn raleigh | 49,500 | $0.76 | branded | |
| 7 | raleigh restaurants | 33,100 | $0.77 | 17 | commercial |
| 8 | restaurants durham nc | 22,200 | $0.71 | 12 | commercial |
| 9 | cool raleigh restaurants | 18,100 | $0.63 | 5 | commercial |
| 10 | restaurants cary nc | 18,100 | $0.56 | 14 | commercial |
| 11 | downtown raleigh dining | 14,800 | $0.63 | 32 | commercial |
| 12 | the pit barbecue raleigh | 14,800 | $1.28 | branded | |
| 13 | brewery bhavana raleigh | 14,800 | $0.04 | 2 | commercial |
| 14 | oakwood pizza raleigh | 12,100 | $3.44 | 0 | commercial |
| 15 | sola coffee raleigh | 12,100 | $0.94 | branded | |
| 16 | sushi nine raleigh | 12,100 | $2.29 | 7 | commercial |
| 17 | trophy brewery raleigh | 12,100 | $0.22 | commercial | |
| 18 | restaurants chapel hill nc | 12,100 | $0.82 | 13 | commercial |
| 19 | raleigh brunch | 9,900 | $0.60 | 0 | commercial |
| 20 | italian restaurants raleigh | 8,100 | $0.71 | 18 | commercial |
SRC: DataForSEO, Raleigh-Durham metro, Sep 8, 2026. Volume and CPC are Google Ads twelve-month averages, so neither moves week to week. Difficulty is DataForSEO’s 0–100 score; blank where it has not been scored.
Live position tracking for 2 of the tracked keywords in this vertical — who Google puts in the map pack, and who holds page one.
SRC: DataForSEO, Raleigh-Durham metro, Sep 8, 2026. LOCAL marks an organic domain that matches a business tracked in this metro; an unmarked domain is simply not one of them, which includes directories and firms we do not track.
The 12 most-reviewed businesses we track in this vertical, with the profile signals that put them where they are.
| RANK | BUSINESS | RATING | REVIEWS | CATEGORY | WEBSITE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | The Pit Authentic Barbecue | 4.3 ★ | 8,598 | Barbecue | YES |
| #2 | Morgan Street Food Hall | 4.5 ★ | 7,016 | Restaurant | YES |
| #3 | Taverna Agora | 4.6 ★ | 4,722 | Greek | YES |
| #4 | Bad Daddy's Burger Bar | 4.5 ★ | 3,737 | Hamburger | YES |
| #5 | Brewery Bhavana - Downtown | 4.7 ★ | 3,502 | Restaurant | YES |
| #6 | Whiskey Kitchen | 4.5 ★ | 3,258 | Restaurant | YES |
| #7 | Sitti | 4.4 ★ | 3,238 | Lebanese | YES |
| #8 | Big Ed's City Market Restaurant | 4.6 ★ | 3,125 | Southern | YES |
| #9 | The Raleigh Times | 4.4 ★ | 3,064 | Bar | YES |
| #10 | Mellow Mushroom Raleigh | 4.5 ★ | 2,992 | Pizza | YES |
| #11 | The Big Easy NC | 4.2 ★ | 2,740 | American | YES |
| #12 | Flying Saucer Draught Emporium | 4.5 ★ | 2,738 | Beer Garden | YES |
SRC: Google Maps listings, DataForSEO, Raleigh-Durham metro, Sep 8, 2026. Ranked by review count, which is a proxy for how established a listing is — not a ranking claim.
Branded demand is the clearest read on who has built recall here — searches for a business by name, the volume nobody has to bid for.
SRC: DataForSEO, Raleigh-Durham metro, Sep 8, 2026. Brand searches identified from the tracked keyword set.
People Also Ask questions collected verbatim from Raleigh-Durham food & dining results — the literal wording Google is already surfacing.
What are some of the best-kept secret restaurants in Raleigh, NC?
What are some must-eat restaurants in Raleigh?
What food is Raleigh known for?
What are some good restaurants in North Hills, Raleigh, NC?
What is the 2 hour rule for pizza?
Who has the best pizza deals out right now?
Where can I find a good pizza place near me in Raleigh, NC?
Who has the best pizza in Mechanicsville, VA?
SRC: Google People Also Ask, DataForSEO, Raleigh-Durham metro, Sep 8, 2026. Questions are reproduced as collected; we do not answer them here.
Everything above is the market. If you want to be in it, start with where you stand today.
Every other vertical we track in this metro, with its monthly search demand.
FOOD & DINING IN OTHER METROS
HOW THIS PAGE IS MADE
Every figure is collected, not estimated. Keyword volume and cost-per-click come from Google Ads via DataForSEO and are twelve-month averages, so neither moves week to week — a weekly delta on either would measure the averaging window, not the market. Map-pack and organic positions are a live SERP read taken Sep 8, 2026. Sections with no data are omitted rather than filled.
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina · Food & Dining · 516 keywords · collected Sep 8, 2026
Collected and published by SEO Bandwagon, tracking local search since 2010. These 516 food & dining keywords come from the same weekly sweep as Google Business Profile Benchmarks, whose method and verification are published in full. If a number here is wrong, tell us.